Softball Game Preview: Willow Canyon Wildcats vs. Sunrise Mountain Mustangs

For the second straight game, Willow Canyon will face off against Sunrise Mountain. Willow Canyon will look to defend their home field on Thursday against Sunrise Mountain at 3:45 p.m. The timing is sure in Willow Canyon's favor as the squad sits on 16 straight wins at home (dating back to last season) while Sunrise Mountain has been banged up by three consecutive losses on the road.

Willow Canyon came into their game on Tuesday off a hard-fought close win, but unfortunately suffered a serious change of fortune. They came up short against Sunrise Mountain, falling 17-11. Even though they lost, the Wildcats' still made a splash at the plate and bumped their average scoring up to 6.2 runs per game (they're now ranked -1th in scoring overall).

For Sunrise Mountain's part, Violet Eisentraut was a major factor no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, pitching 2.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits. Eisentraut has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in five consecutive appearances. She was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring three runs while going 4-for-5. Those four hits gave her a new career-high.

In other batting news, Sunrise Mountain got a massive performance out of Brooke Hoffman, who went 2-for-4 with four RBI, one run, and one double. Those four RBI gave Hoffman a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Mckenna Morgan, who went 2-for-4 with three runs, one triple, and two RBI.

Sunrise Mountain was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .488. They are a perfect 9-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.

Sunrise Mountain is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 10-5 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.7 runs over those games. Willow Canyon's defeat dropped their record down to 7-6-1.